Betting Reasons
1. Making better hands fold
I. When you raise a marginal hand (78s) in later position to make the blinds fold
a. In NLHE your earning goes by an hourly win rate. More blinds you steal the higher your win rate
b. You are raising hands like suited connectors and suited As against tight players
-They are out of position and will be playing stronger hands like KQ and AJ so when you make a hand like a straight or a flush you are getting their stack when they make top pair top kicker type hands
c. You are raising hands like KT, QT, K9, etc against weaker players you think will call with worse single broad way hand like K7, K8, Q8 etc
-You get a lot of value against these players by them giving you one to two streets of value when you have them out kicked
II. When you 3-bet someone simply because you think they are weak
a. Defending your blinds
- If there is someone who is consistently stealing on your big blind 3-betting them with marginal hands that have the possibility to play well on the flop like 67s that can make a big hand like a flush or a straight. You want to raise with hands that will be easier for you to play when you do get called
b. Floating
-Floating is when you call someone’s raise preflop and flop bet with the intention of betting to take the pot away on a later street. You can do this to someone you know continuation bets a lot
c. You have a read a player is weak
-Betting pattern reads will help here. If the person is the type to bet smaller/larger with weak hands and do the opposite with good then you can 3-bet just to take it down.
- When you are the preflop raiser and are in position, you should always raise your opponent when they lead weak into you
2. Value bet-betting when you think you have the best hand and your opponent will call your bet
I. You think your opponent will call down with 2nd pair so you bet just enough to keep them in the game
When you raise medium aces like A8 on the button you are trying to get 2 streets of value.
-Bet the flop, check the turn and bet the river. This is a good way to get value.
II. You think it’s likely that your opponent is on a draw
You can bet draw heavy boards with medium holdings (typical value betting) to get value from an opponent trying to make a draw.
-A good line for this is called “Bet, Bet, Bluff Catcher”. You bet the flop and turn when you’re out of position and then check the river when the draw misses intending to call a reasonable bet. Since you are not betting when you think you have the best hand you are losing value, but you save yourself more in the long run when your second pair is not good.
III. Betting when you have a good hand and you don’t think your opponent will fold
This is the part of the game when you have a great hand and you think your opponent has one they really like too. You want to appropriate your bet sizes on the flop and turn so that an all-in bet on the river isn’t too much more than full pot.
- At $.05/$.10 you and your opponent have $10. You make a standard raise and get called. There is about $.85 in the pot. You would then bet around $.7 to $.75. With your bet and your opponent’s call there would be around $2.30 in the pot. You would then bet around $2 on the turn making the pot $6.3. You’ve both put in around $4 leaving you with $6, so an all in is just about a full pot bet.
3. Betting to take the pot down
I. Continuation bet
This will be your bread and butter. What makes up a large part of your income are hands when you just take down the blinds and hands when you raise and take the pot down on the flop with a continuation bet. The less draw heavy the board, the better to continuation bet.
II. Stab bet
When your opponent is showing weakness by checking, you bet to make them fold.
-You will do this a lot in the big blind. When the small blind limps and you have a bad hand that you have to check, if they check it to you on any board you should bet at it just to take it down. If your opponent shows resistance you can easily lay it down without losing much.
III. Opponent has given up
a. If an opponent checks quickly for multiple streets when the dynamics of the board don’t change they have usually given up.
b. The instant-check is when a player checks the fold to any bet button.
